Wednesday, March 25, 2015

This past weekend we attended the Maple Harvest Festival at Shaver's Creek Nature Center. This was our second time with the little babe. (I blogged about last year's festival here.) Since we already know about the process of tapping maple syrup, we just walked around and did our own thing instead of stopping at the interpretive display stations.

We played and did dare devils...

We discovered nature finds...(skunk cabbage, black walnuts opened by squirrels, and what we think is a moth chrysalis)

We did a bit of birding...(Canadian Geese and the white spots on the ice are Tundra Swans)

We threw the last snowballs of the season and turned our backs on Winter...

-We checked to see if the sap was running...

We saw signs of Spring, but we also still felt the cold fingers of Old Man Winter holding on. It was only 30 degrees F even though the sun was shining. The lake still had several inches of ice on it, but the edges are beginning to thaw. March can be a bit of a tease and we know that we have to keep the hats and gloves around well into April.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

one last snowy morning with the little babe. The next time we see snow she will be three! (That's assuming that we won't see snow between now and next October.) Last Thursday was a beautiful day with warmer temperatures and clear blue skies. However, the weather forecast claimed that there was a 100% chance of 3-5" on Friday - the first day of Spring. I checked the skies before I went to bed on Thursday and still didn't see any snow clouds. My husband said that when he rode his bike home from school around 9 pm, he saw stars in a clear sky. But sure enough, sometime during the night, the snow front moved in and we woke up to a gray snow filled morning. It was a Friday, almost the weekend, my birthday, the first day of Spring, and we had snow - what a great day!

After dropping my husband off at school, the little babe said she wanted to go to the park, so away we went. It was snowing so much that I was actually a bit nervous about our drive home, even though we only live a mile away. The park is surrounded by cornfields and so at this time of year, the wind whips across the wide open harvested fields - and the road. We stayed at the park for about an hour and tromped around the community garden. Then we slowly crept up the hill towards home, where she played with the dogs while I shoveled out the winter weather weary chickens.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

I like making quesadillas, but I don't like using store bought flour tortillas. They have way too many ingredients that just aren't necessary. I thought that I should be able to make my own and so I consulted my trusty kitchen do-it-yourself book, "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" by Jennifer Reese. I only needed three ingredients (plus water) and it sounded super simple. And it was! My homemade tortillas were a bit thicker and were not as pliable as the store bought ones. I think it is all of the bad filler stuff that makes them super soft forever! I used fresh ground whole wheat flour (unsifted), which made mine so hearty. Using all purpose white flour would probably make them more elastic.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

1. I used a large stand mixing bowl and dough hook, but you can use a mixing bowl and wooden spoon. The dough hook isn't really necessary for kneading and I think the paddle attachment would work just as well. Combine 3 cups of flour and 3/4 teaspoons of salt.

3. Add 3/4 cup of water and mix until a dough forms. Knead briefly until "smooth, springy, and tender."

4. Divide the dough into 12 balls (I didn't count and made 13) that are a little larger than a golf ball. Cover with a damp dish towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. Heat an ungreased skillet until very hot. Use a rolling pin to roll each ball into a 6-8" circle. The dough doesn't have to be super thin (see my pictures for thickness - they do not rise.)

6. Cook each tortilla for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. I found that the first couple of tortillas took a bit longer and the last couple took less time. The first time I made these, the shortening actually puffed up in the tortilla and started to blister and brown (like you see in real tortillas). The second time, the fat didn't do that and I'm not sure why. But they tasted the same.

My new favorite quesadilla recipe:

Combine cooked garbanzo beans, sliced avocados, cilantro, pineapple chunks, salt to taste, and a couple squeezes of lime juice in a food processor. Pulse until blended, but still kind of chunky. Spread on one tortilla, top with shredded cheese (I used cheddar), top with another tortilla, and fry in a griddle until the cheese melts.

You get fiber, protein, fruit, calcium, and it tastes yummy! I did not measure any amounts, so just wing it based on what you like. (There is about 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans under the other ingredients in the food processor picture.)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

When I started the morning routine last Friday morning, I realized that our rabbit, Maizie, had not eaten his pellets or parsley during the night. Not a good sign for a rabbit that normally grabs green veggies out of your hands. I then noticed that there was not any poop lying around or the normal spray all over the kitchen floor. I usually start my day by cleaning up rabbit pee, so that should have been my first sign that something was wrong. Luckily my husband was home on Spring Break, so I sent him and the little babe on an emergency run to the grocery store. Yep, not to the veterinarian, but to the canned fruit aisle.

I suspected that Maizie had wool block. Just like cats, rabbits ingest hair when they clean themselves. Unlike cats, rabbits cannot vomit and so if their digestive system is slow, normally from a lack of fiber, the hair/wool can build up in their stomach and they die very quickly. Maizie is a very odd rabbit in the fact that he does not eat hay. Almost anyone would tell you that this is impossible - rabbits HAVE to eat hay because they need the fiber. However, Maizie chose to stop eating hay about 1 1/2 years ago and has survived without any problems. Because I know that he has a lack of fiber in his diet, I was pretty sure that wool block was the problem. In the past, we have given him pineapple juice when he has stopped eating. The enzymes in the pineapple juice help to speed up the digestive system and move the hair out.

So my husband and little babe came back with two cans of pineapple tidbits (one can for the little babe - she loves pineapple). My husband held Maizie in a towel on his lap while I used a small syringe to feed him some juice. If you can get the syringe behind their front teeth, they'll drink it pretty readily. I also tried putting some pineapple chunks in his bowl, but he wasn't interested. Within an hour, he had pooped pellets that contained a lot of hair in them and he also peed. He continued to poop small pellets throughout the day (small from the lack of fiber). We dosed him with juice again in the evening and I saw him drinking water and eating some food. By the next morning, he was chasing the cat around like normal. Maizie is about 5-6 years old now, which is pretty good for an unneutered male rabbit that does not eat hay and occasionally eats dry cat food.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

-Don't waste energy fretting about things that will happen on their own good time. They may be good, they may be bad, but they will happen and you can't stop them.

-There are exciting and awe inspiring things right under our noses, we just have to keep our eyes open and look down every once in a while, instead of focusing so much on what the future may hold. (See the rabbit? I nearly jumped out of my leg warmers when I saw how close we were!)

-Try not to be jaded and if you are, don't pass it on to your child. (I almost went into my lecture about how it is not a good thing that the rabbit let us get so close because there are people who would harm a wild animal that isn't afraid of humans...but I shut my mouth and appreciated the magic of the moment.)

-Take a risk; walk on the edge sometimes.

-Death happens. We might not understand it, it might make us sad, but we shouldn't look away from it. Appreciate the life and beauty that was.

-We might have to circle around for a while before we figure out where we're going. That's okay.

-Things can always be worse. (You may have fallen into the rabbit poop, but you could have fallen onto the thorny rose bush.)

Monday, March 16, 2015

The skies were gray, the yard was full of mud, slush, and dog poop, the rain was drizzling, and the husband left with the car for the day. Hmm. We can't read books on the sofa ALL day and I didn't feel like cleaning or cooking. (I know, what kind of housewife am I?) The little babe had already been drawing, so that was used up. (I can only draw so many castles and princesses before it gets a bit boring.) I wanted something that was fun for both of us. Since she is really into creative play with her dolls and buddies, I thought making a doll would be a fun idea. I get to be creative and she gets to "help" by making decisions. I am in awe of people who make cloth dolls - Carrie over at November Morning is totally talented. I didn't have any idea how cloth dolls were made until Carrie shared this great post about how she makes her doll's faces. Really cool! Disclaimer: Please do not think that the doll I am about to share is modeled off of Carrie's dolls in any way - her dolls are true works of art (and love). Mine is a cobbled together, let's make do with what we have, trying to get it completed before the toddler gets manic, homemade project. Meet Cindy!

Yep folks, this is the slightly scary looking Cindy. Cindy - yes, we only know one Cindy and if you're reading this, the little babe had such a great time playing at your house that she decided to name her newest doll after you. I hope you feel honored! Cindy's head and body are stuffed with wool that the dogs pulled off a dryer ball. Her under "skin" is white cotton from a vintage baby dress. The wool used for her face is from a sweater found at Goodwill. Her dress is leftover material from a Christmas tunic that I made for the little babe last year. Her hair is roving that I bought several years ago when I thought I was going to learn how to spin. (Ha, ha.) Her ponytail ribbons are from the little babe's stash of leftover yarn bits that she uses to make her chickens look "fancy". Cindy has several rubber bands holding her together and I quickly hand sewed the dress, just cinching the bottom of the fabric. The little babe decided that Cindy did not need any legs or arms. (I may have steered her a bit in that direction.)

Did you have a favorite doll as a child? Handmade or store bought? I loved my Cabbage Patch dolls (a child of the '80s) and my daughter now plays with one of them.